Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO)

by · The Markets Daily

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO – Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors bought 323,615 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 11% compared to the average daily volume of 292,693 call options.

More Broadcom News

Here are the key news stories impacting Broadcom this week:

  • Positive Sentiment: Wall Street price-target upgrades and buy ratings — several major firms raised targets after Broadcom’s Dec. 11 results (Truist to $510, Barclays/Bank of America/KeyCorp among others pushing targets to ~$450–$500), signaling analyst confidence in upside from AI demand. Read More.
  • Positive Sentiment: Strong earnings and AI revenue guidance underpin the bullish view — Broadcom beat Q4 estimates and management flagged large AI-related revenue (reports cite ~$8.2B AI revenue drivers and a multi-year backlog), supporting long-term growth expectations. Read More.
  • Positive Sentiment: Dividend hike boosts yield and shareholder return profile — Broadcom raised its quarterly dividend ~10% to $0.65 (ex-dividend Dec. 22), a sign of strong cash flow and management willingness to return capital. Read More.
  • Neutral Sentiment: Valuation / intrinsic-value debate — DCF and independent valuation write-ups are circulating (some show meaningful intrinsic upside), but opinions vary depending on margin and AI-adoption assumptions; useful for longer-term readers to compare models. Read More.
  • Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales and multiple Form 4 filings — several insiders (including senior executives and directors) disclosed sales totaling millions of dollars in mid-December, which can amplify short-term negative sentiment even if sales are for diversification or tax reasons. Read More.
  • Negative Sentiment: Recent sharp pullback and margin worries triggered a wave of selling — the stock fell roughly 15–20% from recent highs as investors digested margin commentary and broad tech/AI rotation, creating volatility despite analyst upgrades. Read More.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 1,928 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.80, for a total transaction of $631,998.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 23,582 shares in the company, valued at $7,730,179.60. This represents a 7.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 24,527 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.91, for a total value of $8,361,499.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 304,775 shares in the company, valued at approximately $103,900,845.25. The trade was a 7.45% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 825,296 shares of company stock worth $299,151,975 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Broadcom

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in Broadcom by 2.4% in the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,703,487 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $469,566,000 after buying an additional 39,466 shares during the last quarter. Capital Counsel LLC NY acquired a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the second quarter worth $221,000. Waterloo Capital L.P. lifted its position in Broadcom by 7.0% during the second quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 48,361 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $13,331,000 after purchasing an additional 3,180 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Broadcom by 27.9% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 64,130 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $10,737,000 after purchasing an additional 13,978 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RiverFront Investment Group LLC grew its position in Broadcom by 107.6% during the 2nd quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC now owns 16,524 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $4,555,000 after purchasing an additional 8,566 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on AVGO shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Broadcom from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird set a $420.00 price target on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $255.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $475.00 target price (up previously from $400.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $435.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $436.33.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Broadcom

Broadcom Price Performance

Broadcom stock traded up $6.85 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $336.73. 29,677,544 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 26,389,059. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $362.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $320.02. The stock has a market cap of $1.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.19. Broadcom has a one year low of $138.10 and a one year high of $414.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 1.71.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.08. Broadcom had a net margin of 36.20% and a return on equity of 37.45%. The business had revenue of $18.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.42 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Broadcom will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is an increase from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 22nd. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.62%.

Broadcom Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ: AVGO) is a global technology company that designs, develops and supplies semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions for a broad range of markets. The company’s semiconductor business provides components and systems for wired and wireless communications, enterprise and cloud storage, networking and broadband access, serving original equipment manufacturers, cloud service providers, telecommunications carriers and industrial customers worldwide. Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, California, and operates globally with research, development and sales organizations across North America, Europe and Asia.

On the semiconductor side, Broadcom’s portfolio includes system-on-chip (SoC) and application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) solutions, radio-frequency and connectivity components, Ethernet switching and PHY devices, storage adapters and controllers, optical transceivers and other networking silicon.

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